Handle for tools



(No Model.)

J BELL.

HANDLE FOB. TOOLS.

No. 379,439. Patented Mar. 13, 1888.

v @MQZ' a UNITED STATES JACOB BELL, OF PARSONS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE'HALF TO VALTER B. POSTEN,

OF WILKES-BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA.

HANDLE FOR TOOLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters'Patent No. 379,439, dated March 13 1888.

7 Application filed December 10, 1887. Serial No. 257,538. (N 0 model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JACOB BELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Parsons, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Handles for Tools, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in handles for tools, having special reference to handles for picks, and it has for its object to provide a sheath for the end of the handle, which is struck from a single sheet of metal, and when applied to the handle will have a limited outward spring or expansion, so that when the eye of the pick-head is engaged over it the sheath will be compressed thereby, and will therefore bind the head firmly.

With this object in view the invention consists in a certain novel construction and arrangement of parts,hereinafter more fully described in connection with the drawings and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a handle provided with the improved sheath. Fig.2 is a detail perspective view of the sheath. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the blank before it is bent or attached to the handle.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A designates the handle having its end spread,preferably by splitting the same, and inserting small wedges; and B designates the head of the pick, which is provided at its center with the usual eye, 0. The sheath D, which embraces the end of the handle, is struck from a single sheet of metal, as will be seen by reference to the blank illustrated in Fig. 3. The sheath is provided on one of its free edges with a dovetailed notch, E, and on the other free edge with a corresponding dovetailed projection,F,which is adapted to engage in the notch when the sheath is placed around the end of the handle. The projection F is somewhat smaller than the notch, to allow a slight movement of the former therein, so that the sheath is capable of a slight expansion. The sheath is provided on its lower edge with two depending guard-fingers, G G,which pass down the handle and are secured at theirlower ends thereto by means of small tacks or nails,which are shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

It will be seen that when the eye of the pickhead is passed up over the sheath the latter is compressed, and as it is compressed against the spring-power of the metal the sheath bears outward against the sides of the eye 0 with great force. \Vhen the head is removed from the handle,the sheath will spring outward until the expansion is limited by the projection F engaging the outer and smaller portion of the notch. I

To place the sheath on the handle, engage the projection F in the notch E and slide the sheath upward from the smaller end of the handle. The tacks are then driven through perforations in the lower ends of the guards G and into the handle. It will be seen that this sheath does not expand at its lower end, but at the upper end, at such a point that the expanding portion bears against the sides of the eye 0 when the latter is in its proper position. Further, it will be seen that the expansion is limited to prevent the sheath from coming out of shape when the head is removed.

This device is simple and may be applied to any handle now in use, and being struck from a single sheet of metal, it may be very cheaply manufactured.

The object of the guards G G, as will be readilyunderstood, is to protect the handle from flying pieces of hard material while the pick is in use. For instance, in mining coal small pieces of coal fly upward and strike against the handle close to the pick-head, and if there is no protection for the latter it soon becomes much bruised and eventually breaks.

When one of the points of the pick is down, it will be observed that the guards are on the upper and lower sides of the handle, so that in either position (namely, with either point down) the handle is protected.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- The combination of the handle, the tool having an eye through which the handle is inserted, and the expansible sheath secured to the handle and bearing against the sides of In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my m the eye, the said sheath consisting of a single ownI have hereto affixed my signature in prespieee of metal wrapped around the end of the ence of two witnesses. handle and seen red thereto at one end, one of I 5 the meeting edges of the sheath havinga dove- JACOB BELL.

tailed notch and the other having a dovetailed projection fitting in the notch and XVitnesses: slightly smaller than the same, substantially as EDWARD A. LYNCH, set forth. M. E. GAUGHAN. 

